Prosecutor: Seattle man ‘ambushed,’ executed in broad daylight

20-year-old accused of killing former friend in South Seattle shooting

Updated 1:23 pm, Monday, August 17, 2015

A 20-year-old Seattle man accused of gunning down another young man in South Seattle has been charged with first-degree murder.

King County prosecutors claim Mohamed Abas Omar killed Zakariya Issa on July 31 in what investigators describe as an ambush stemming from a months-old dispute between two former friends. Omar and Issa appear to have attended the same funeral hours before the shooting.

Investigators claim Issa, 20, was shot in the head shortly after 3 p.m. in Seattle’s Dunlap neighborhood. Police arrived to find him mortally wounded near the intersection of 44th Avenue South and South Cloverdale Street.

Writing the court, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Wyman Yip said the evidence shows Omar “without provocation, ambushed the unarmed victim, and shot him in the head three times, executing him in broad daylight.”

Issa had attended the funeral of a friend – Muldhata Dawud – earlier on the day he was shot, Seattle Police Department Detective Donna Stangeland said in charging papers. He was talking with his mother on the phone moments the alleged ambush.

According to the detective’s account, Issa was walking on 44th Avenue when a car pulled up in front of him. His assailant, since identified by police as Omar, walked up to him and punched him in the head.

Issa was knocked to the ground by the blow, Stangeland said. Standing over him, the detective continued, Omar pulled a pistol and shot Issa three timed in the head before fleeing.

The car that carried Omar away – a 2006 BMW 525 – led police to Omar’s mother, who explained her son had also attended Dawud’s funeral the day of the killing. The woman told police she rushed to the shooting scene after hearing a boy had been killed, fearing her son was the victim.

Through her investigation, Stangeland learned Omar and Issa had a longstanding dispute over money. Stangeland said Issa believed Omar had burglarized his home; in retaliation, he stole Omar’s car.

Police learned Omar left Seattle for Minneapolis two days after the shooting. He returned to Seattle after learning police were looking for him and agreed to meet with detectives on Aug. 12.

Stangeland said Omar admitted to leaving town because of the incident. He appears to have stopped short of admitting to the shooting.

Presented with a photographic lineup, witnesses to the shooting didn’t identify Omar as the gunman. Police claim to have identified the driver of the BMW seen at the shooting, though he doesn’t appear to have been jailed or charged.

Police also claim cellular records place Omar at the shooting scene when Issa was killed. The phone was deactivated after the shooting and hasn’t been turned back on since.

Charged Monday, Omar remains jailed on $3 million bail. He has not yet entered an initial plea.